The most dramatic marriage in continental science
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In 2004, Yang Zhenning, an 82-year-old physicist, registered his marriage with Weng Fan, a 28-year-old master in English translation, which caused widespread discussion in society.
28 years old, which is the normal marriageable age for women, can marry an old man who can be their own grandfather, which is not very acceptable to the public in traditional concepts. Similarly, Yang Zhenning was already 82 years old at that time, and marrying a wife who was more than 50 years younger than himself was also criticized a lot.
After marriage, the couple ran their lives under great pressure and walked hand in hand for almost twenty years. Marriages that were once not favored have lasted much longer than many young couples with similar age differences, which can be regarded as a powerful counterattack to some people who have spoken out.
Now, Yang Zhenning is already a centenarian, but his thinking is still very clear, and he also gave an impassioned speech at his birthday anniversary, accompanied by Weng Fan.
Now Weng Fan is 47 years old, after marrying Yang Zhenning, she has been taking good care of Yang Zhenning's living and living, and has not used Yang Zhenning's popularity to gain any benefits for herself as the outside world once speculated. Even, after so many years of marriage, she didn't even want children, and when Yang Zhenning died, she would be alone.
Not only that, but she also donated nearly $2 million of her joint property to Tsinghua University.
This operation made outsiders even more incomprehensible, Yang Zhenning decided not to have children when he married Weng Fan, on the grounds that he did not know how long he could live, afraid that one day he would suddenly be gone, and leaving Weng Fan with children would become a burden for her.
Up to now, the most gossip about this yearless couple is their marriage problem, and it seems that Yang Zhenning's achievements in the scientific community have not really been paid attention to, let alone that his three children are the dragons and phoenixes among people and leaders in the industry. Coupled with Weng Fan, their family is a very good talent.
Yang holds several senior titles, such as Professor and Honorary President of the Tsinghua Institute for Advanced Study, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Foreign Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Honorary Academician of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences and Academia Sinica in Taiwan. He also served as Director of the Institute of Physics at Chinese University in Hong Kong.
Yang Zhenning can win so many academician titles, you don't need to think about how much he has contributed to the world.
Yang Zhenning was born in 1922 and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. To have such a high achievement at the age of 35, let alone China, it is a first-class existence in the whole world.
Yang Zhenning received a master's degree from Tsinghua at the age of 22 and then went to study in the United States. During his time in the United States, he served as a researcher, professor and director of the Institute of Physics at many institutions of higher learning in the United States, and devoted himself tirelessly to scientific research. He has made landmark contributions in many fields such as particle physics and statistical mechanics.
The establishment of academic research centers of many domestic first-class universities such as Tsinghua Advanced Research Center, Laboratory of Theoretical Physics of Nankai University, and Institute of Mathematics of Hong Kong Chinese University is inseparable from Yang Zhenning's promotion. How many important scientific research projects and how many cutting-edge talents can be cultivated for the mainland by the establishment of these academic centers?
As a top international scientist, Yang Zhenning's family is actually much better than ordinary people. His father Yang Wuzhi is a doctor of mathematics at the University of Chicago, and Yang Zhenning can become a scientist first thanks to his father's education. So when he had children, he was also very well educated.
Yang Zhenning's first wife was Du Zhili, who died in 2003. She is Du Yuming's daughter. Although Du Yuming was once a high-ranking Kuomintang officer, we cannot erase his talents.
Du Yuming was pardoned and released from prison after completing his studies and reform in Gongdelin, and has been working for New China ever since, and was also elected as a deputy to the Fifth National People's Congress and served as the deputy head of the military group of the mainland's Cultural and Historical Materials Research Committee.
Born into a military family, Du Zhili received a strict and good education from an early age, she liked literature and music very much, and later became Yang Zhenlin's student. In 1950, Du Zhili, who studied in the United States with Yang Zhenning, married him and gave birth to two sons and a daughter.
The eldest son, Yang Guangnuo, is an American computer engineer, and soon after the advent of computers in the United States, Yang Guangnuo liked it to the extent of obsession, but was not very interested in his father's professional physics. Yang Zhenning did not force his son to follow in his footsteps, because when he was a child, Yang Wuzhi was very flexible in his education and never set limits.
Yang Zhenning told his son that as long as he wanted to learn, he would support him unconditionally. Although he is often busy with scientific research, he will take his son to the bookstore when he has free time, and stay for a day to satisfy Yang Guangnuo's desire to find answers to complex questions. With his father's strong backing, Yang Guangnuo grew up and achieved good results in the field of computers.
After being admitted to the University of Michigan, Yang Guangnuo chose to major in computer science without suspense, and now he can devote all his energy to computer research. After graduating with a Ph.D., Yang Guangnuo became a well-known network engineer in the industry, and like his father, he devoted all his passion to his profession.
The second son, Yang Guangyu, is an American chemist, he did not take a completely different path from his father like his brother, although he did not study physics, but under the influence of his father, he fell in love with chemistry.
Similarly, he also got a doctorate degree in chemistry, but he did not get stuck in scientific research to make himself a rigid person, he concentrated on the major, but also fell in love with astronomical research, although he failed to become an astronomer, but Yang Guangyu still carefully built an observatory for himself, went to observe the stars in the universe, and really found many interesting asteroids.
After retirement, Yang Guangyu was not idle, and from time to time he entered the laboratory to guide students, which is really like Yang Zhenning.
Yang Zhenning's only daughter, Yang Youli, did not follow in her father's footsteps, but became a doctor.
Although it seems that he is not as accomplished as his father and two older brothers, the importance of doctors is self-evident, and it is quite excellent to be a good doctor, usually obtaining a doctorate and continuing to study on the job.
Yang Youli is closer to her mother Du Zhili, like Du Zhili, she knows and likes art, but she has Yang Zhenning's strong genes, so she has also achieved achievements in medical research. Yang Youli knows a few Chinese words, so she often participates in MSF operations, saving lives in countries and regions with few medical resources, and becoming a leader in her field.
None of Yang Zhenning's three children inherited his mantle, but they were all excellent in their own right.
Yang Zhenning said that he respected the personal development of his children and did not force them to return to China, but he himself returned to the motherland long ago and restored his Chinese nationality in 2017, so some people criticized him for returning to retire and restore his nationality.
The view of returning to China to retire is actually not valid, because isn't it better for him to stay with American children to retire? One thing to note is that when he went abroad, the mainland was still relatively backward, and many scientific research needs to be completed with the help of the platform of developed countries, didn't Qian Xuesen also get a US green card? So there is no need to have such strong malice towards a good scientist in the world.
With such great achievements in the scientific community, stable family relationships and excellent children, Yang Zhenning deserves to be called the most remarkable marriage in our country. He used his practical actions to show us that family and career can go hand in hand, and love and career do not conflict. We should look at this yearless couple with respect and appreciation, and their story is inspiring and inspiring.
For marriages like Yang Zhenning and Weng Fan, we can't simply measure it with traditional concepts, we should look at the relationship from a more open and inclusive perspective, and more importantly, we should see Yang Zhenning's outstanding contribution to the scientific community, and his marriage is only one part of his colorful life.
Let us wish Mr. Yang Zhenning an enthusiastic speech at the 100th birthday banquet, and also wish this couple a happy and happy couple, and walk together on a longer journey of life.
